Getcha First Look at WONDER WOMAN and the JUSTICE LEAGUE!!

Who tuned in to DC Films: Dawn of the Justice League last night? You didn’t? What the fuck is wrong with you?!

Actually, no, I retract that – UTF welcomes those who missed out on the half-hour special of Geoff Johns and Kevin Smith jerking off over DC characters, because it means that you can catch up on it all right here. First footage from Wonder Woman? Check. Featurettes for Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg with a mix of concept art and comics art? Check. Suicide Squad trailer? We already got you covered.

First up…

It’s great to finally see footage of the Amazonian Warrior, however what we saw doesn’t exactly illustrate that much – which is fine. I don’t think anybody was expecting something earth-shattering considering they haven’t been filming for that long. What’s interesting to me is how dark the colour palette is in the clips; some would say that’s to be expected from “dark n gritty” DC, however Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad both look incredibly vibrant with utilizing colour sparingly, rather than sloshing it all over the screen (the painting metaphor continues). I’m sure Wonder Woman will be the same.

It was also great to see her kick some ass, albeit we didn’t see much of that – but still!

Y’know, for a character who’s regularly shit on by the media, Aquaman looks fucking cool.

A visceral, epic drama about the titans of the sea with some awesome Atlantean politics thrown in (and probably a sea monster or too, given Johns’ comments)? Sign me the fuck up.

The Flash is the character I’m least excited to see on the big screen – and this video didn’t instil any more confidence. That’s got nothing to do with the character or the comics, which I love, but based off of Johns’ and Smith’s conversation they’re not going to be departing massively from what the TV show is doing. On one hand, sticking to the origins and comics is great. On the other, if there’s already a worthy and successful adaptation of that up and running then why not go for something different? The choice in director isn’t exactly awe-inspiring either.

Cyborg is, without a doubt, the League member with the least exposure and name-recognition – I mean, he hasn’t even been a member in the comics for that long. However, I’m certainly intrigued based on what the guys were saying; Smith is right that he’s infinitely more interesting now that we’re fully into the Digital Age, and his upcoming solo movie could craft all kinds of interesting questions. Character-wise, a young, attractive, talented guy who’s mostly a robot and can’t sleep is probably gonna be easily irritable. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how all these different characters interact next year(!!!!).

Ah, we’ll throw this one in too.

Overall, I’m incredibly happy with what DC have shown us so far. I hated Man of Steel but Batman v Superman looks like a feast of vibrant visuals and comic-book-y goodness, with a likely-excellent script to back it up (could you doubt the writer of Argo and Ben Affleck?) And don’t even get me started on how incredible Suicide Squad looks.

So many fans have been worried sick over the years about DC movies. To start with, we didn’t even think a shared universe would ever happen – they’d just throw more and more money at Christopher Nolan to make Batman movies for the rest of eternity. It’s strange to think that people who have only been a part of the fandom since Man of Steel will have no idea of DC’s prior reputation: a clueless, joke of a company that could only make shitty movies when it didn’t have the magic-Nolan-touch. Looking back on it, it feels like an entirely different reality. Almost overnight they revamped their entire approach and gained new-found confidence in its roster of characters, which is reflected in the fact its first non-Superman/Batman movie since 2011 glorifies psychopaths, with a title that will probably have One Million Moms up in arms.

I’m loving this new DC, and if the next few films deliver in the way which they seem like they will, Marvel is going to have some actual, serious competition for once – and I think there’s every chance DC could fly past the studio which truly kicked off comic book movie saturation and has owned the market since 2008. Roll out, guys!